Download I SAMUEL – LESSON 8

I SAMUEL – LESSON 8
“It’s Either Truth…Or Consequences”
Kay Arthur, Teacher
Can you ignore the word of God? Can you walk in direct disobedience to it and not suffer the
consequences? “Truth or Consequences” was a program in the early days of television. I would remember
when it would come on, they bring you up, and if you didn’t tell the truth, if you didn’t answer the question
properly, then you had to pay the consequence. Now the consequence was light, and the consequence was
funny, but society knew at that time in our culture that there was a consequence if you did not do what was right.
Unfortunately, times have changed, and we don’t want any consequences, because we don’t want any moral
absolutes. We don’t want to say this is absolute, pure, unadulterated truth. We want truth to be relative. We
want to do what we want to do and not have any consequence to that. You know what? There is a consequence
to our behavior. There always has been and there always will be. That’s what we are going to look at, as we
look at the final chapters of I Samuel. As we look at these final chapters of I Samuel, I want you to know that
I and II Samuel were once one book. I and II Samuel, I and II Kings, I and II Chronicles were all at one time
each one book on its own. But because they were so big, they divided them. The scrolls were unwieldy and
hard to handle, so they divided them. But as we look at I Samuel, just remember that you are in the middle of
the book, and there is so much more to come. You don’t want to miss what God has to say in II Samuel.
Today I want us to look at I Samuel, chapters 27-31. I want to begin with an overview of the content of
these chapters. Some of these chapters I will spend more time on, and others I will go over very quickly. But in
I Samuel 27, what do you find? You find David crossing over into the Philistine territory. He realizes that
although Saul says, “Return, my son,” Saul still would put him to death. So David crosses over into the
Philistines territory. Let’s look at it. (27:1) “Then David said to himself, ‘Now I will perish one day by the hand
of Saul. There is nothing better for me than to escape into the land of the Philistines. Saul then will despair of
searching for me anymore in all the territory of Israel, and I will escape from his hand.’” [Now David has been
in the various territories of Israel, and we know that all of Canaan belongs to Israel. But we know that the
Philistines are inhabiting that western coast of Israel on the border of the Mediterranean Sea. We know that
those Philistines are uncircumcised, and they are idolaters, and they want to destroy Israel. And we know from
studying I Samuel, the major enemy all the way through, yes, we see the Amalekites and others, but the major
enemy of Israel is the Philistines. Here is David having to go into Philistine territory. As he goes into Philistine
territory it says,] (2) “So David arose and crossed over, he and the six hundred men who were with him, to
Achish the son of Maoch, king of Gath.” [Now is this the same Achish as the Achish of chapter 21? We don’t
really know, but they have the same name. We don’t know how much time and years has passed. We don’t
know if this is, possibly, the son with the father’s name. We don’t know, but we know that he is the king of
Gath.]
(3) “And David lived with Achish at Gath, he and his men, each with his household, even David with his
two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the Carmelitess, Nabal’s widow.” [Now, I want us to see that
he has been driven out. I want you to go back to Chapter 26:19.] “Now therefore, please let my lord the king
(David is talking to Saul. David has had the opportunity to kill Saul, but he doesn’t. He has Saul’s spear in his
hand.) “listen to the words of his servant. If the Lord has stirred you up against me, let Him accept an offering;
but if it is men, cursed are they before the Lord, for they have driven me out today that I should have no
attachment with the inheritance of the Lord, saying, ‘Go, serve other gods.’” [This is a landmark in his life. All
this time, up until this point—now he is saying, “They have driven me out. They’ve said, ‘Go, and serve other
gods. Get away from your inheritance.’” So what has he done? He has fled. Yet, as he flees, he understands
the principle of truth or consequence.]
Look at 26:23. “And the Lord will repay each man for his righteousness and his faithfulness; for the
Lord delivered you (Saul) into my hand today, but I refused to stretch out my hand against the Lord’s anointed.”
[He says, “Let God judge. I have walked in truth; I have done what is right. I have refused to kill you, Saul. I
have refused to stretch out my hand against you, God’s anointed.”] (24) “Now behold, as your life was highly
valued in my sight this day, so may my life be highly valued in the sight of the Lord, and may He deliver me
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from all distress.” [He understands that if he walks in righteousness that God becomes his protector, God
becomes his defender. I’m telling you, there is nothing like having a clear conscious before God. There is
nothing like knowing that you have done what is right, that God has said, “This is the way, walk in it,” and you
have walked in that way. You have not turned to the right, and you have not turned to the left, but you have
observed to do according to all that God commands you. And when you do this, then you do not fear the
judgment of God. You do not fear the chastening of God. You understand that, “If God be for us, who can be
against us?” God becomes your deliverer instead of your discipliner. This is what David sees and understands,
and he flees into the world of the uncircumcised Philistines. Yet God will keep him from the evil one.
Go to John 17. We see Jesus’ final high priestly prayer, as He prays before He goes to the Garden of
Gethsemane. When He prays this prayer, He’s asking God to protect His disciples. He says, (9) “I ask on their
behalf; I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom Thou hast given Me; for they are Thine; (11)
“And I am no more in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world,” [David, so to speak, had stepped
away from the protection of Israel, and his inheritance, and his ability, to go up and worship God at the
Tabernacle. He is now in Philistines territory. He is in the world, but listen, he is not of the world. He is in it.
Jesus prays. He knows that we’re in the world.] “and I come to Thee. Holy Father, keep them in Thy name, the
name which Thou hast given Me, that they may be one, even as We are.” (15) “I do not ask Thee to take them
out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one.” (17) “Sanctify them in the truth; Thy word is truth.” [In
the world, but sanctify them, set them apart, and protect them by truth. By truth, so that they live in truth, so that
they do not reap the consequences. Well, that is Chapter 27.
In Chapter 28, what happens? Saul goes and consults a medium. He consults the medium, because God
is not talking to him. God is not talking to him. He is suffering the consequences of his disobedience.
In Chapter 29, what happens? We see Achish, this Philistine king of Gath, protecting David and
allowing him to live in the land. When he lives in the land, what do we know from Chapter 27? We know that
David is living in that land, but what is David doing in Chapter 27? He is going in, and he is attacking the
enemy. He leaves no prisoners. And because he leaves no prisoners, there is no one to tell on him. Achish
thinks he is going down to the south of Judah, and attacking the Israelites, and taking spoils from them, but that
is not true. He is dealing with the enemy. In Chapter 29, we find Achish so confident in David that he is going
to take David into battle with him. Who is Achish going to fight? He is going to fight Israel. He’s going to
fight David’s people, and David says that he will go. But what do you know about David? What have you seen
about David? Has David deviated from the word of God? No. Has David’s heart been sensitive to the word of
God? Yes. Even with Nabal, what happened? He listened to Abigail, and he realized he was about to act in his
anger. So David has been faithful all this time.
Is David about to be unfaithful when he goes to battle? No, but David is in a hard position, isn’t he?
Because he is going in with the enemy against the children of God. David, the one that has slain his tens of
thousands of the enemy, will he now slay the thousands of the children of Israel? No. You and I know that he
won’t do that. But God, because he sees David walk in truth, because God looks down and He sees that David’s
heart is fully His, God shows Himself strong on David’s behalf. And what happens? He gets ready; Achish
takes him and his men, and he’s going to go to battle. He joins the rest of the Philistines, and the other men, the
leaders of the other Philistines, say, “He’s not going with us. He’s not going with us; he is liable to turn against
us.” And they’re right, because surely David would have done that. So they say, “Send him home,” and so they
send him home, and God, in His sovereignty, protects David. Listen to me very, very carefully. When you walk
in truth, it doesn’t mean you will not encounter difficulties. When you walk in truth, it does not mean that your
faith will not be challenged. When you walk in truth, it does not mean that everything is going to go your way.
But when you walk in truth, you can know this that the sovereign God sits on His throne and He sees your heart,
and He sees your obedience, and He is going to show Himself strong on your behalf.
II Chronicles 16:9a “For the eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly
support those (a man, a woman, a teenager, a young kid) whose heart is fully His,” that He might show Himself
strong on your behalf. When we walk in the truth, when we walk in the light, we have the blessing of God and
the protection of God. Not that we will not encounter difficulties, but we will make it through those difficulties,
and those difficulties will work together for our good and for His glory.
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What do you see in Chapter 30? You find David going back to Ziklag. This is the city that Achish gave
him. He goes back to Ziklag, and he is absolutely horrified. Why? Because the Amalekites have raided Ziklag.
So when he gets back, it is so bad in the city that they’re ready to kill David. What do you see in Chapter 30?
Watch. You see this man that is walking in truth being tested and proven when his people are captured in
Ziklag. (6) “Moreover David was greatly distressed because the people spoke of stoning him, for all the people
were embittered, each one because of his sons and his daughters.” [Why? The Amalekites, fortunately, had not
killed the people, but they had taken them all captive. David’s wives were gone; his 600 men, their wives and
their families, their children were gone. They had been taken by the enemy. The city had been raided, so now
these men are so embittered against David that they are talking about stoning David to death, putting him to
death. But see him walking in truth.] (6b) “But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.”
You know, so many times when we get in a trial or difficulty, we try to take our own way out. We try to
take the world’s way out. We try to solve the problem ourselves and turn to the arm of flesh (and we’re going to
fail), instead of turning to the arm of God, and saying, “God, deliver me by Your strong right arm, by Your
strong right hand, by Your hand of power.” We need to remember this. We need to remember that when these
difficulties come, we need to do what David does. David strengthens himself in the Lord. You have seen, as
you have read the Psalms that integrate with I Samuel, how David is in a difficult situation, and how he writes a
Psalm, and how he records in that Psalms who God is. He lays out a situation, but he records who God is. At
the end of every Psalm, you find David having that peace from strengthening himself in the Lord. When you get
in a situation like this, and when people get embittered, or you’re in a difficult situation, it would be good for
you to sit down, and for you write out what you know about God that pertains to that situation. Write your own
Psalm, to pour out your heart to God, because that is what the Psalms are.
Watch what he does in v. 8. (7) “David inquired of the Lord,” [Not only does he strengthen himself in the
Lord, but he calls for the ephod. You know what that is; we studied it.] “David inquired of the Lord, saying,
‘Shall I pursue this band? Shall I overtake them?’” [He doesn’t just all of a sudden flare up, and say, “We’re
going to go get them; they’re not going to do this.” Or he doesn’t throw up his hands, and say, “All is lost; let’s
put ourselves to death. Our wives and our children are gone. We have lost everything.” [Like they did in the
great depression, when they jumped out of windows. How foolish! It shows who their god was in the great
depression. Their god toppled, and they were destroyed. But not David. He inquires of the Lord. He says,
“Shall I pursue them?” And what does God do? God answers. And God says, “Yes, pursue them.”
Look at v. 23. You see David, then, crediting God with his victory. (23) “Then David said, ‘You must
not do so, my brothers, with what the Lord has given us,” [Now what does he mean, “You must not do so, with
what the Lord has given us?” What happened? They went, and they got their people. And what did they do?
They ravished the Amalekites, and they took the spoil of war. When they are bringing back the spoil of war
there were a group of men that were so tired and so exhausted that they could not go on, and they didn’t go into
the actual battle. So now, there are some weak and worthless men among those that won and brought home the
spoil. They say, “Listen, don’t you give that spoil to anybody else but to us. We are the ones who won the
battle. They stayed back, they got exhausted. Give them their women; give them their kids, but don’t give them
anything more, not of the spoil.” He calls these people worthless.
Look at v. 22. “Then all the wicked and worthless men among those who went with David answered and
said, ‘Because they did not go with us, we will not give them any of the spoil that we have recovered, except to
every man his wife and his children, that they may lead them away and depart.” [But how does David answer?]
(23) “Then David said, ‘You must not do so, my brothers, with what the Lord has given us, who has kept us and
delivered into our hand the band that came against us.’” [David strengthens himself in the Lord. David inquires
of the Lord, and David knows that his deliverance and the spoils of war have come from the Lord. James 1:17
says, “Every good and every perfect gift comes down from the Father above, in whom there is no variation or
shadow of turning.” And Romans 11:36 says, “From Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him
be the glory forever and ever.”
So what do you see? You see then a new precedent established. And this precedent is established
because what David is going to say (and it becomes a law in every battle in Israel after this) that the spoil is to be
shared. The spoil is to be shared, not only by those on the field, but with those who stayed by the stuff. So look
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at it in verse 24. (24) “And who will listen to you in this matter? For as his share is who goes down to the
battle, so shall his share be who stays by the baggage; they shall share alike.” [It shows you a picture of the body
of Christ. There are those outward gifts that are so manifest, and then there are those inward gifts that are so
necessary, but so unseen, but it all accomplishes the work of the Lord. So he says, “Those who went on the front
lines and those who stayed by the stuff will all share the spoil.] (25) “And so it has been from that day forward,
that he made it a statute and an ordinance for Israel to this day. (26) Now when David came to Ziklag, he sent
some of the spoil to the elders of Judah, to his friends, saying, ‘Behold, a gift (but literally it is “a blessing”) for
you from the spoil of the enemies of the Lord:’” [Why? Drop down to v.31.] (31) “and to those who were in
Hebron, and to all the places where David himself and his men were accustomed to go.” [He shared the spoil;
the blessing of the Lord has been shared. This is a man who walks in truth. This is a man who is a man after
God’s own heart. This is a man that strengthens himself in the Lord, who believes in the Lord. Are you like
David, or are you like Saul? Who are you like?
We come to the final chapter of I Samuel, Chapter 31. In this chapter, Saul dies in the battle. Now God
told him that he was going to die. Samuel told him that he was going to die in I Samuel 28:19. When Samuel is
called up from the dead, he tells him, “You are going to die, and your sons are going to die.” And that is exactly
what happens. Saul is wounded in battle, and with this terrible wound he calls on his armor bearer, and he asks
this armor bearer to put him to death, so that he will not be taken by these uncircumcised Philistines. But the
armor bearer is afraid, so Saul takes his spear, and he falls on his spear. Then the armor bearer kills himself.
When we read this we need to read I Chronicles 10:1-14, because it gives us the same account, but it
gives us an insight into this that we don’t get in I Samuel. You have to remember that Chronicles was written
after the children of Israel came back from the Babylonian captivity, after they were settled in their land. They
sat down, and they wrote I and II Chronicles, all one book of that time, because they wanted the children of
Israel to understand certain spiritual truths that would help them in their living after the Babylonian captivity. In
I Chronicles 10, all I want to do is look at vv.13 and 14. The whole chapter deals with the incident of Saul’s
death, but watch what happens. (13) “So Saul died for his trespass which he committed against the Lord,
because of the word of the Lord which he did not keep; and also because he asked counsel of a medium, making
inquiry of it, (14) and did not inquire of the Lord. Therefore He killed him and turned the kingdom to David the
son of Jesse.” [What did God do to Saul? And why did He do it to Saul? He killed Saul. God killed Saul.
Why? Because Saul trespassed against the Lord, and there was a consequence to this repeated trespassing against
the Lord.]
I want to set Saul back here in the Old Testament, and leave him for a minute and I want to make some
application to our lives. I want to take you to Hebrews 12, and show you what God does with His children. God
disciplines His children, but God also kills His children, and God also takes us home. (Psalm 139:16) Yes, “God
has numbered our days when as yet there was not one of them.” God is sovereign. He knows the beginning. He
knows the end. He knows everything that you are going to do in between. He knows how adamantly you are
going to walk with Him. He knows how much you are going to love Him. He knows it all because He is God,
because He is absolutely timeless. We don’t know that. We don’t know what God knows. We can know what
the scripture says.
I want to take you to three scriptures in the New Testament that show us the consequence of repeated
disobedience against God. Hebrews 12 is a disciplining chapter; it’s a chapter that talks about what God does
with His children. He says, (5) “and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons.”
[Now He is going to quote, loosely, Proverbs 3:11-12.] (11) My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the
Lord,” [The word for discipline here is paideia, and it means “the instruction” of the Lord, and it implies not
only instruction, but chastening, when we do wrong. It’s likened to an earthly parent with a child who has the
responsibility to discipline their children. More people need to read this, because so many children are
undisciplined today, because parents are not doing their job.] (11) “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline
of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by Him; (5) for those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, and He
scourges every son whom He receives.” [In other words, every child of God is going to be disciplined by God.]
Let’s look at v. 8. “If you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are
illegitimate children and not sons. (9) Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected
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them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits and live?” [In other words, if you and I know
the truth, know what we are to do, and we keep walking in rebellion to God, we keep sinning,” [Now I’m not
talking about sin as the very tone of your life, that it’s always been that way; but I am talking about as a child of
God], then what does he say? “Shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits and live?”
Go to 1 John 5:16. Now he is talking about prayer, praying for a brother. (16) “If anyone sees his
brother committing a sin not leading to death, (I would circle “not”) he shall ask and God will for him give life
to those who commit sin not leading to death. There is a sin leading to death; I do not say that he should make
request for this.” [Now what has he just said? He said, “There is a consequence to a believer sinning, and one of
those consequences may be the chastening of the Lord, the discipline of the Lord, the “divine woodshed” of the
Lord, the spanking that comes our way. But the other one could be that there is a sin, and this leads to death. In
other words, God says, “I’m sorry, but you’re going home.”
Go to 1 Corinthians 5:1. He is writing to the church at Corinth. He is writing to them, and he is dealing
with the problems in the church, and then he is going to answer questions. One of the problems that he deals
with in 1 Corinthians 5 is: (1) “It is actually reported that there is (fornication) immorality among you, and
immorality of such a kind as does not exist even among the Gentiles, that someone has his father’s wife.” [Now
Paul is upset with them. He is upset with the church. He is upset with the church, because the church has not
disciplined this man like they should. They have kept him in the fellowship. What about your fellowship? Do
the people in your church go out, divorce their mate, and show up the next week with a girlfriend or boyfriend or
with the person they are living with, or having an affair with, and the church just allows it to go on? Listen;
there is a consequence when you go against truth. This church was not executing the consequence that God
wanted them to execute.]
So he says to them, in v. 4, “In the name of our Lord Jesus, when you are assembled, and I with you in
spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus, (5) I have decided to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of
his flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.” [In other words, he says, “I am going to
discipline him. You just get back, you put him out, and I am going to deal with him. You do what I say,
because I am going to turn him over to Satan, so that Satan can destroy his flesh, so that his spirit can be saved
in the day of Christ.” You say, “This is heavy teaching.” Yes, it is heavy teaching. What I mean it to be is
sobering teaching. Why? Because so many people are walking against the word of God, and they are saying,
“I’m a believer. I know I am a believer.” Well, just know it is truth. You walk in it, or you reap the
consequence. And here is a consequence—God killed Saul. God, today, according to this passage, puts
believers to death if they do not walk in the way that God wants them to walk.
God killed Saul. Why? Because Saul did not obey Him, because Saul did not do what God told him
to do, and because he consulted the witch at Endor. He consulted a medium. Let’s look at that. This is the
chapter that I passed over, that I said we were going to come back to, I Samuel 28. In 1 Samuel 28, we get
some insight, a new insight, I believe, into what happens when a person dies. As we look at Chapter 28, we
find here in this passage God is going to tell about Saul seeking the counsel of a medium. A medium was a
person that was a diviner by demonic power. In other words, she was a diviner by a demon. As a matter of
fact, when the Septuagint (the Septuagint is the Koine Greek translation of the Old Testament) defines this,
they use a word that means “to speak as a ventriloquist.”
In I Samuel 28, the Philistines are gathered together against Israel, and, of course, against Saul.
David is told by Achish that he is to go against Saul and against Israel. So he tells us what David is doing,
then over here he tells us what is going on with Saul. So we leave David for a minute to find out what Saul
does. (5) “When Saul saw the camp of the Philistines, he was afraid and his heart trembled greatly. (6)
When Saul inquired of the Lord, the Lord did not answer him, either by dreams or by Urim or by prophets.”
[You say, “I’ve got a problem, because you just read to me in I Chronicles 10:13-14 that Saul did not inquire
of the Lord.”] (13) “So Saul died for his trespass which he committed against the Lord, because of the word
of the Lord which he did not keep (he trespassed); and also because he asked counsel of a medium, making
inquiry of it (the medium), (14) and did not inquire of the Lord. Therefore He killed him.” [Yet this passage
(I Samuel 28:6) said Saul inquired of the Lord, and the Lord did not answer him. I don’t understand totally
and absolutely, but I can tell you that at this point, you wonder what Saul is asking of the Lord. Is Saul just
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wanting to know, Am I going to lose this battle?” or does Saul really want to know what God has to say? Is
Saul really ready to honestly inquire of the Lord, and listen so as to do what God says? Well, I can’t take
you any farther than that, but I know this, that Scripture doesn’t contradict Scripture, so somewhere there is
an answer for it.
In I Samuel 28:6, when Saul inquired of the Lord, the Lord did not answer him, either by dreams or
by Urim or by prophets. All I can say is, he should have kept saying to God, “God, show me what’s in my
life that I’m not hearing from You. Show me, God, what is it that You have made the heavens as brass? Is
there sin here?” Maybe this guy was oblivious to all that he was doing, but somehow his heart was not right
before the Lord. You know that his heart was not right before the Lord, because he says, in v.7, “Then Saul
said to his servants, ‘Seek for me a woman who is a medium, that I may go to her and inquire of her.’” [In
other words, “God’s not going to answer me, but I am going to get an answer somewhere. I am determined
to get an answer, even if it means going against the Lord.” And He knew that it meant to go against the
Lord, because he had driven all the mediums out of the land. We know, according to the word of God,
because we have studied it, that if you discovered a medium, a spiritist, that you were to put that medium or
spiritist to death. Saul did not do that; he just drove them out of the land which once again, it’s like Amelek,
“I’ll let some live, and let the others not live.” It is like, “I’ll choose to obey to the degree I want to obey.”
There are consequences.
Obviously, all the mediums did not leave, because he finds one. When he finds one, she is scared
because she knows the rule of Saul. And she says in v.9, “I think you are laying a trap for me.” Saul says, in
v.10, “As the Lord lives, no punishment shall come upon you for this thing.” [Now I am thinking, “If I am a
medium, and I know that there is a law, and he is saying that there is not a trap, can I really trust his words?”
Apparently she did.] (11) “Then the woman said, ‘Whom shall I bring up for you?’ And he said, ‘Bring up
Samuel for me.’ (12) When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out with a loud voice;” [Why? Because she
got what she didn’t expect. She got the real thing; she got Samuel, the prophet. She expected a demon to
speak. Have you ever been to a séance? Or have you ever consulted with the spirit world? Do you realize
what you are doing? Do you realize that you are opening yourself up to the enemy? Have you ever gone,
because you have lost a loved one, and you want to hear from that loved one, and you don’t know what
happened, so you have gone to someone. You have heard these guys on television. You have heard about
how they are making contact for people with their dead loved ones. What are they getting? They are getting
an emissary of Satan. What are they getting? They are getting one of his evil spirits.
Who was Satan? John 8:44 tells us that Satan in a liar. It tells us that Satan is a murderer, and he’s
been a murderer from the beginning, and he abides not in the truth. He is the father of lies. So they are not
getting the real thing, but Saul got the real thing. He got Samuel. (13) “And the king said to her, ‘Do not be
afraid; but what do you see?’ And the woman said to Saul, ‘I see a divine being coming up out of the
earth.’” [Now what does this tell you? Up until this point in the Scriptures, all we know is that when a
person dies they are either gathered to their people, or they go to the grave. But at this point, for the first
time as far as I can discern in the word of God, we find out that he comes up out of the earth, which tells us
where the abode of the dead is.]
Let’s look at it. Let me just give you some Scriptures real quick. In Genesis 25:8, Abraham died and
he was gathered to his people. That’s interesting isn’t it? He died and he was gathered to his people. And
you see the same thing in Genesis 49:33, when Jacob, Israel, dies he is gathered to the people. You find out
that Joseph died at 110, and he was embalmed in a coffin. So we know that they go into a coffin or a
sepulcher, or something like this, and then they are also gathered to the people. If we went through and
would look at all the different scriptures of the main men, we would just see that it tells us that they died and
that they were buried. Then we come to I Samuel 25. (We didn’t cover this last week, but you did in your
homework, but it just amazes me that Samuel’s death is only given one verse in Scripture, I Samuel 25:1
“Then Samuel died.” Here is a man, and I Samuel opens up with his birth, and here in I Samuel 25, near the
end of the book, we have his death. He’s been a main character, for the most part, all the way through this
book, until he turns away from Saul heart broken because Saul has disobeyed God. Here he is—the last of
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the judges. He is a prophet that is finally speaking to the people, and they are getting the word of God again.
Then God gives him one verse when he dies?
(1) “Then Samuel died; and all Israel gathered together and mourned for him, and buried him at his
house in Ramah.” [That is all that you hear. I think that is all we hear because God has more to tell us in
Chapter 28. He tells us where Samuel went. Samuel went somewhere into the earth. It says he came up out
of the earth. We know from Abraham, we know from Jacob, that they are gathered to their people. So we
know that he is not alone there where he is. Now watch what it says, (13b) “And the woman said to Saul, ‘I
see a divine being coming up out of the earth.’ (14) And he said to her, ‘What is his form?’ And she said,
‘An old man is coming up, and he is wrapped with a robe.’ And Saul knew that it was Samuel, and he
bowed with his face to the ground and did homage. (15) Then Samuel said to Saul, ‘Why have you disturbed
me by bringing me up?’ And Saul answered, ‘I am greatly distressed; for the Philistines are waging war
against me, and God has departed from me and answers me no more, either through prophets or by dreams;’”
[Now why has God not answering him anymore? Because, what is Saul doing? He is doing what so many
people are doing today. He is using God just when he wants Him. Oh, he is not going to obey Him; he’s not
going to repent, he’s not going to walk with him; “but, God, when I need you, will You please answer the
phone? And God didn’t answer the phone.]
(15) “‘therefore I have called you, that you may make known to me what I should do.’” [What should
he have done? He should have repented a long time ago, but he didn’t do it.] (16) “And Samuel said, ‘Why
then do you ask me, since the Lord has departed from you and has become your adversary?’” [Why are you
asking me? I’m not God.”] (17) “And the Lord has done accordingly as He spoke through me;’” [I’ve
already told you. You’re reaping the consequences of your disobedience.] “‘for the Lord has torn the
kingdom out of your hand and given it to your neighbor, to David. (18) As you did not obey the Lord and
did not execute His fierce wrath on Amalek, so the Lord has done this thing to you this day.’” [The Lord has
gone like this (covered His mouth). Why? Because He spoke before, and you didn’t do what He said.]
You know, maybe if God is not speaking to you, maybe you ought to go back and examine your life,
and say, “God, why am I praying and it seems like the heavens are like brass? Why, God? What is it, God?”
Maybe you ought to go back and examine, and see if at some point God told you to do something, and you
didn’t do it, anything that you need to confess, anything that you need to make right with God. This morning
I was on my knees, and I was saying, “God, I want to be so clean before You. I want to be so pure. Please,
just keep showing me anything that gets in my way.” Just this morning He was showing me a wrong passion
(I’m not talking about immoral or anything like that). He was showing that there was in me a lack in this
area, and that I needed to watch this. God speaks when we really want to hear him, and to hear means to
obey. God lays before us truth, and if we don’t follow the truth, and walk in the light as He is in the light,
then we reap a consequence, and this is what happens here.
(19) “Moreover the Lord will also give over Israel along with you into the hands of the Philistines,
therefore tomorrow you and your sons will be with me. Indeed the Lord will give over the army of Israel
into the hands of the Philistines!” [Now what happens when a person dies in the Old Testament? Up until to
the point of the resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ, up until that point, what happens when a person
dies in the Old Testament times? Well, we know that we are gathered to our people, that Abraham was
gathered to his people, and Jacob was gathered to his people, so it must be that there is a grouping of those
who believe. But I believe, from Luke 16, that we can see when a person dies (and the Bible uses the word
sheol. It uses is for “the grave,” but it also uses sheol for the “nether world,” for the abode of the dead and
all of its inhabits. Another word that is translated from the word sheol is the word “Hades.” And I think that
when we look at it (and this is just to give you this extra knowledge and understanding), that what happens to
a person up until the time of Jesus Christ, when he died he went to a place that was either called “Abraham’s
bosom” (and it is called that by Jesus Christ), or he went to a place which was a permanent place. Both of
these are, in a sense, permanent abodes. So the rich man dies, and he finds himself in torment and in flames.
When you go back in the Old Testament, you find out that there are flames and torment there. So the rich
man dies, and he is in flames and he is in torment. And he looks over and he sees Lazarus, a believer, in
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Abraham’s bosom, and he says, “Please send Lazarus over here that Lazarus might dip his finger in water
and touch my tongue, for I am in flames and torment.”
Now what does he mean here? When you look at this in Luke 16:25, he says, “I would love to do
that, but it is impossible. It’s impossible because between us and you there is a great gulf fixed.” Where was
Saul when he died? Did he go over here to Abraham’s bosom, or did he go over here to the part where you
can never get out until the day that Hades and death give up the dead and they stand at the great white throne
judgment? The Bible doesn’t tell us. We can speculate all we want, but the Bible doesn’t tell us specifically.
But we know from this passage one thing for sure, that when Saul died he was going to go down, either to
this point—Hades, or to this point—Abraham’s bosom, but he was going to go down. What I want you to
know, and what I want you to understand is this, that there is a consequence to the way that we live in the
light of the truth. If we turn our backs on it, what is the consequence? The consequence is set for us in the
way that we choose to believe or not believe.
Now when you die, if you do not believe in Jesus Christ, I believe this is where you will be—in
Hades—if you do not believe in Jesus Christ. We don’t know about Saul definitely, but you can know about
you. You can know, “Will you be here in Hades, in fire in torment in this part, until Jesus Christ returns and
sets up his kingdom, and at the end of a thousand years we have the great white throne judgment, and death
and Hades give up the dead in them? Will you be here (Hades) when you die? It depends on what you do
with the truth. Jesus said, “I am the way, and I am the truth, and I am the life, and no man comes to the
Father but by Me.” He is truth. If you don’t receive Him as the truth, you suffer the consequences. And
what is the consequence? The consequence is eternal death. The consequence is, as Revelation 20:14 says,
the second death. The consequence is the lake of fire where the worm dies not and the fire is not quenched.
We look at the Old Testament saints, and we say, “Why didn’t they…? They knew; why didn’t they
obey? Why didn’t they believe?” But it comes right down, not to the Old Testament saints, it comes down
to you. You have heard truth. You have heard the truth about God. You have heard the truth about
righteousness. You have heard the truth about Jesus Christ. Are you going to embrace the truth, or are you
going, my friend, to suffer the consequence? What will it be? Death eternal, or life? Life only comes
through the One that says, “I am the way, I am the truth, and I am the life.”
I can not leave you with this last lesson on I Samuel without asking you, my friend, where will you
spend eternity? Where will you spend eternity? You say, “I don’t know; I’m not sure whether I’m truly a
child of God or not.” If you are not sure, read the book of I John. Mark every reference to the word “know.”
Then write down what you can know and how you can know it. You will see that if you are truly born again,
then you will walk in the light as He is in the light. Sin will not be master over you. You will have a love
for the brethren, and you will continue in the faith. But you go look at it for yourself, and then get on your
knees and ask God, “God, where do I stand with you?” I guarantee you that if you will inquire of God, He
will answer you in respect to that.
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